NASHVILLE -- Over the past year-plus, the Mets have tried three different young players at third base. Most of the reps went to Brett Baty. Mark Vientos received some. Toward the end of last season, Ronny Mauricio took his turn.

None of them presented themselves as the clear and obvious long-term solution.

But one of them will be -- or so the Mets still hope. On the first day of baseball’s Winter Meetings on Monday, president of baseball operations David Stearns said definitively that the Mets do not plan to add a third baseman this winter. The job is open for one of Baty, Mauricio or Vientos to grab it.

“We will have that position covered internally,” Stearns said.

For a team with glaring holes in the rotation, the bullpen and the outfield despite a supersized payroll, that means one less thing to do -- and spend on -- this winter. More importantly, it means determining once and for all if any of the Mets’ former top prospects could be third-base solutions.

“I mean look, the talent’s there, right?” said new manager Carlos Mendoza. “There’s depth there, obviously, but we’re a few weeks away before we have to report and then make that final decision toward the end of Spring Training. Hopefully we’re in a position where we’re going to have to make some difficult decisions, because they’re going to make it hard for us. But we’re pretty excited with what we have.”

The situation is not altogether dissimilar to this time last year, when the Mets believed -- but didn’t know with any level of certainty -- that Baty could be their long-term solution at third. Initially blocked by Eduardo Escobar, Baty forced his way onto the roster in mid-April but didn’t distinguish himself, slumping so badly over the first half of the campaign that the Mets sent him back to Triple-A Syracuse in August. Baty returned in September but again struggled, producing a .514 OPS the rest of the way.

As all this was unfolding, Mauricio was busy raking in the Minors. Largely because Mauricio was a year and a half younger and less polished than Baty, the Mets proceeded cautiously, waiting until September to promote him. When they did, Mauricio showed flashes of offensive brilliance but not much consistency. He also struggled defensively in a small sample, though that wasn’t entirely his fault; third base was a new position for Mauricio, a natural shortstop, and he was also spending time at second.

Those issues aside, the job does appear likely to go to one of Baty or Mauricio -- the former a first-round Draft pick, the latter a high-profile international signing, both among the top-ranked position-player prospects the Mets have developed in years. But another option exists in Vientos, who has also raked in the upper Minors and struggled in the Majors. Much of Vientos’ big league playing time has been sporadic, while the bulk of his reps have come at DH. Still, Stearns said he views Vientos in the same light as Baty and Mauricio.

One last possibility is free agent signing Joey Wendle, though Stearns described Wendle more as a “utility man” who figures to shuttle between different positions on the diamond. He’ll be involved at third, but not on an everyday basis.

In other words: The starter will be Baty, Mauricio or Vientos, or perhaps some combination of the three.

“I think it is important for us organizationally to learn about our younger players and to provide them opportunity at the Major League level,” Stearns said. “That doesn’t have to be all on Opening Day. But over the course of the year, we’ve got to learn about these guys.”